how to not become an insane megalomaniac (by nohara rin)
by WDW
Summary: Rin is rather unhappy to find herself in an underground cave, her only human company an old man with an odd fixation on her distant ancestry. Still, it was better than dying, and she hadn't been expecting much else when she had pushed Obito out of the way of the boulder. Now, to get back to her boys. [role reversal]
1. Chapter 1

Awareness returned to Rin slowly.

Her body hurt, a dull pain spread out all over. The right side of her body felt strangely numb. Rin tried to clench her right hand, except nothing happened. In fact, she realized with dawning horror, she didn't have a right hand at all.

Rin didn't open her eyes, and tried to keep her breathing slow and even, as if she was still unconscious. Where... Where was she? The last thing she had remembered was telling Kakashi and Obito to get out of there before enemy reinforcements came, there was no way they could get her out, stop crying, Obito, and just _go_ -

Oh.

That had been when the rocks had started to fall and Kakashi pulled Obito away from her, ignoring his screams and insults. That had been when she died - after all, with the vast majority of her vital organs as damaged as they were, it had been a miracle that she even survived so long.

There was a faint smell of wet earth and green, growing things. The air was cool and damp against her cheek.

She was definitely not dead. It takes a moment for it to sink in.

But, how was that remotely possible? Rin knew enough about the human body to know that she should have died the moment the boulder had come down and crushed her entire right side. She had pushed Obito out of the way knowing that, because Nohara Rin was not the kind of person to let her best friend die right in front of her - not when there was something she could do to save him.

Obito... Kakashi... Did they make it out? They definitely weren't in fighting condition, not when Kakashi was still limping off the aftermath of torture, not when Obito was bleeding from his eyes from the Sharingan that he had finally achieved. Her breath hitched involuntarily.

A second later, a deep gravelly voice said above her, "Girl, I know you're awake."

Rin opened her eyes to pitch black darkness. It took her a few blinks in order to gain some degree of night vision back.

A single dark figure sat a few feet from where she laid. She could just barely make out wild hair turned brittle white with age and a pair of wizened hands curled around a rather large scythe.

Was this the man who had saved her?

"Where -?" She choked out, before the dryness of her throat sent her into a coughing fit.

The man waited until she was done to speak. "This is the land between the living and the dead," he intoned, his hair moving slightly to expose one crimson eye.

Rin started at the sight of it. The Sharingan... She didn't know too much about it because the Uchiha Clan was notoriously cagey about their signature doujutsu, but Obito had ranted about it enough for her to have a good idea of its appearance and capabilities.

"You're an Uchiha?" She asked, a bit doubtfully. All Uchiha were loyal to the village - they had been since the village's founding, Rin had learned from her Academy textbook. So what was this elderly man doing here, in a cave deep in Iwa territory?

He inclined his head. "Who knows," the man said cryptically,

It wasn't an answer, it was a means of stalling. But Rin was in no shape to demand more, not when she was a centimeter from death itself.

"Were you the one who saved me, then?" She asked.

His expression was unreadable. "They insisted on retrieving your body," he said blandly, gesturing to a side of the cave that Rin could not yet turn her head to see from her position.

She craned her neck, only to see... some kind of large plant-statue, too big to have grown in the cave naturally. She blinked. 'They?'

Her savior didn't seem to notice her confusion. He continued, "Once I did... Hashirama's artificial body reacted to you quite favorably. I didn't understand why then, but now... it seems quite obvious." His wrinkled lips twisted into a grimace. "Isn't that right, Senju?"

Rin stared at him, eyes wide in confusion. Senju...? As in Senju Hashirama and Tobirama, the Shodaime and Nidaime? But she wasn't -

The elderly man evidently took her surprise as shock that he had deduced her clan so readily. "It was hardly difficult. I was... acquainted with one of your ancestors. You resemble him greatly."

She blinked, completely at sea with the new developments. Her first instinct is to protest - if Rin was somehow a descendant of one of the village's foremost (and close to extinct, she remembered) clans, she was sure she would have known.

But... it was clear that the old man had saved her life in large part because of the assumptions he had made about her ancestry. It wouldn't do to disabuse him of that, at least not before Rin could stand on her own two feet.

"I see," Rin said neutrally. "Then, thank you for saving my life... Uchiha-san?" She tried.

"You are correct. I am Uchiha," the man admitted, to her complete lack of surprise. He already reminded her somewhat of one of Obito's crazier uncles, just a lot older (as well as a lot crazier, it seemed.)

"I've never seen you around the village before," Rin asked cautiously, careful not to sound accusing. It was already clear to her that, whoever this man was, he hadn't stepped foot in the village for years - else, he would have known that the last Senju had already left Konoha.

"Hmph. That's because I haven't been a part of that village for many years."

A nuke-nin? She swallowed her shock, and did her best to keep the alarm from reaching her face.

"...My best friend is an Uchiha," Rin said quietly. "I know he helps many of the elders around the village. His name is Obito... do you know him, Uchiha-san?"

The Uchiha stood, and for the first time, Rin saw the fleshy plant roots that melded themselves to the man's back, connecting him to the plant placed at a corner of the cave. She couldn't help but recoil in disgust.

"No," he said bluntly. "I am far before his time."

It was obvious now that the man was far older than Rin had initially estimated - which was cause for alarm, since her initial guess had already been close to a hundred. How was he still alive?

"I am a ghost of the Uchiha," her savior said. Then, matter-of-fact, he dropped a bombshell. "My name is Uchiha Madara."

Rin could not keep the look of shock off of her face. "The founder of the village?" She stammered.

He nodded slightly.

She quickly went through everything she knew about Uchiha Madara. Most of it, Rin had learned in the Academy. Her instructors had spent a great deal of time covering the founding of the village, until every student in her class could define the 'Will of Fire' by heart.

Madara had been the leader of the Uchiha Clan at the time of the village's founding. He had been friends with Senju Hashirama, and they had negotiated truce, bringing an end to countless years of clan warfare and forming Konohagakure.

...At least, until Madara had turned against his friend and attacked the village, angered that he had not been chosen as Hokage. Two large statues stood in the Valley of the End to this day, built to remember the epic battle that had taken place then.

By every account, he had died then. Even if he hadn't... old age would have taken its toll - the village had been founded almost a century ago, after all.

But if her savior - if Madara - was telling the truth, it meant that she had been saved by the village's oldest traitor.

 _She was at the mercy of the village's oldest traitor._

"It's been close to a century since the village was founded," Rin said neutrally. "If you really are Madara -"

She was interrupted by a dry, wheezing chuckle. "Have no doubt about it, girl. I am Madara. This," he gestured toward the abomination of plant matter behind him, "is what keeps me alive. Without the chakra supply from the Mazou, I would die instantly."

To Rin's horror, she could make out several humanoid forms... _growing_ on the branches of the monstrous tree. Had those been what Madara meant by 'they'?

She looked away, and steeled herself.

Rin was alive – but for how much longer, she had no idea. She had been saved by an elderly Uchiha who claimed to be a long-dead founder – who _was_ a long-dead founder, from everything she had seen. He also thought her to be a Senju… a clan that shouldn't be connected to her at all, but Madara had mentioned a resemblance and an unexpectedly positive reaction…

(If he really was Madara, then did that mean the 'ancestor' was the _Shodaime_? Rin wasn't sure how she felt about that.)

Her boys were… possibly alive, possibly dead, but she decided towards the former (just because she wasn't sure she could take it if she didn't.) Minato-sensei would have gotten to them in time. But now, they all thought she was dead. There would be no Konoha shinobi coming back for her, then; Rin knew too well that there were not enough resources for body retrieval missions to be conducted. She didn't even have a kekkai genkai that other villages would want to get their hands on.

That meant, if she wanted to go home again and see everyone again… Rin had to make it out herself.

But first things first. "Madara-sama," she said respectfully, "how did I survive? The rock, it –"

"I know what the rock did," he said dismissively. "It is just as I said, girl. The half of your body that had been crushed… was replaced with Hashirama's artificial body. For you, there should be less chance of it ripping off. Still, if I were you… I wouldn't strain myself." Madara's wrinkled lips curved at that. "Unless you want to die."

As soon as Rin had realized that half of her body had been replaced by… some kind of _plant matter_ , or clone of the Shodaime, _something_ – her hand had automatically reached to touch at her bandaged side.

She put her hand back. It was nauseating to realize that half of her body was something _other,_ and she didn't even want to think about the havoc it was wrecking on her bodily systems… But, the fact that she was a medic nin was something she did not want Madara to know just yet. If he thought that she would believe everything he spouted about how her recovery… then, it was just better for her.

"Madara-sama… I'm thankful for your help. But… why did you save me?" Rin asked bluntly, because… what did it matter to Uchiha Madara if she _did_ die? Even if he thought she was a Senju, why would he have saved the life of the clan of his greatest enemy?

He didn't reply. In fact, he didn't do _anything_ , just stood there, shoulders slumped with the burden of his countless years.

A minute passed. Rin was suddenly, irrationally afraid that Madara had died.

"This reality is hell," Madara said finally. He began to pace the floor, the roots that sprouted from his back dragging soundlessly over the cave ground. "I want to change this world."

Rin couldn't help but blink at the non-sequitur. Before she could say anything, he continued. "A world of peace, a world of love, a world of joy… that is the type of world I will make."

Madara stopped, turned, and fixated on her with a single crimson eye. "To do that… I need your assistance, girl."

…It certainly wasn't what she had expected him to say, but then, her only knowledge of Uchiha Madara had come from Konoha's history books. Rin wasn't sure what to say. The state of the world had never been a primary concern for her, not when she had to worry about the survival of not only herself, but the many people she cared about.

It was definitely a noble goal. It just sounded like it came right out of a children's fairytale, and Rin had lost patience for those years ago.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "But I need to go back to my village. My team… they all think I'm dead. I need to be there for them - I don't know what they'll do without me."

"…You've misunderstood me. It was not a request." Madara's lips upturned into a cruel smile. "You'll understand one day what I have said about the world. But until then…" He turned away. "There are no exits to this cavern. Neither of us are able to leave this place – not with our lives."

Rin watched as the man walked off into the shadows of the cave, teeth gritted. She had known from the beginning that her life had been saved for a reason, but… so, that was how he wanted to play it? Trap her here, until she changed her mind…

There was no guarantee that anything Madara had said was true. She would have to investigate his claims once she recovered enough… it didn't make sense for there to not be an exit. And… even though Madara had once been a legendary warrior, that had been countless years ago.

Once she got her strength back, she would escape. And once she did…

She swallowed at the thought of her team, of Kakashi and Obito, who had just began to get along. There were others, too, who needed her to return. Dad had already lost everyone else – and Rin had _promised_ him that she would come back.

Rin had never broken a promise. She didn't intend to start now.

* * *

Madara was sleeping, a huddled form at the corner of the cave. Rin observed him for half an hour before she was sure that he was fully unconscious, and then laboriously forced chakra into her hand.

It had already been a month since she had woken up. Time passed quickly – she spent most of her time sleeping, which was understandable. Rin had literally lost half of her body mass.

What little time she spent awake, she used to explore the limitations of her new body. As Madara had so bluntly said, her entire right side seemed to be made of some kind of plant matter. It had been startling to realize that her newly grown (and hadn't _that_ been a shock) right hand was a complete different shade from her own.

Still… the tissue was integrating into her body almost ridiculously successfully. Her body accepted the foreign plant tissue with an ease that belied the source of the tissue. It made Rin wonder about Madara's cryptic words. Maybe there was some truth to them?

To her relief, hunger and dehydration did not seem to be a problem. Rin wasn't sure she wanted to think about what would have happened if she still needed food and water, stuck as she was in a cavern where neither was abundant.

She would be lying, however, if she wasn't mildly frightened. With the odd dual-toned nature of her body, not to mention the stitches that seemed to hold her together… Rin felt like she was some sort of medical experiment.

…She didn't need food or water, and at least half of her body could regenerate from any injury. Was she really human?

"Rin-chan! You're awake!" She heard, and flinched automatically. Well, at least she wasn't like _them_ …

A week after she first woke up, the humanoid figures hanging from Madara's tree had finished growing and had been… _picked_ , for lack of a better word.

Then, one of the creatures had pushed itself up and greeted her cheerfully. Rin had… fell off her bed (and had to reattach her right arm) at the sight. It was mildly embarrassing, but Madara hadn't found any amusement in it. All he did was order the plant creatures to help her up, which they did.

"Tobi," Rin said with a sigh.

That had been what she nicknamed the creature with the swirly head, because with its cheerful demeanor and insatiable curiosity, it really did remind her of a younger (and weirder) Obito. He had gotten the moniker from some particular mean older cousins of his, so she was sure that he wouldn't mind if she, well, gave it to a strange, poo-obsessed plant creature.

"Will you answer our questions now, Rin-chan?" It jumped over to her, edging so close to her that she couldn't help but scoot back a few inches.

"The… the ones about using the toilet?" She asked weakly. On second thought… it wasn't as if they asked about anything else.

"Eh? Toilet?" Tobi put a hand to its chin in thought. "Is that… something you use to take a dump?"

Rin swallowed. Somehow, explaining the mechanisms of pooping had never been in her plans for escaping the cave. "Yes, it looks like a chair, but there's a hole –"

"- Ah! I know this part! Then you poo in the hole!" Tobi froze. "Wait… Rin-chan… what happens to the poo then?"

"You… flush the toilet. The poo… goes away."

The creature hung its head in sadness. "I would never send away the poo," it decided. Its companion, a more human looking creature that Rin had not decided on a name for, patted its shoulder in sympathy.

"I'm sure you wouldn't," Rin offered awkwardly. True, the two weren't even human, but… she felt rather bad for the two androids capable of independent thought, yet still forced to serve under Madara's will. Granted, it wasn't as if they had any complaints about that – they seemed perfectly happy, other than their inability to defecate.

"Rin-chan… Do you poo?"

"Do I…?" Rin was suddenly very glad that Madara was asleep. "Um, I… did. Not anymore," she said hurriedly. It was a side effect of the modifications to her body. She didn't want to think about having to do _that_ in this small enclosed space, where she had to stay for an indefinite amount of time.

If Tobi had a face, she was sure its eyes would be wide in shock. "You –" It fell to its knees. "Rin-chan," it begged, "please tell me -! How does it feel to take a dump? I mean, when you really have to go –"

Rin turned scarlet. "Um," she managed.

The other plant creature smacked Tobi. "Oi! Can't you see she's changed colors? That's a bad sign!"

"O-Oh!" Tobi put its 'face' in its hands. "I'm sorry, so sorry, Rin-chan! Please don't die – Madara-sama will _kill_ us! Or, even worse," it said with mounting horror, "he'll make us gather information outside!"

…Outside? Rin narrowed her eyes. "You can go outside?" She asked hopefully. Madara had pointed out the large boulder blocking the way to the outside, and told her matter-of-fact that she would never get out that way.

"We can just move through rock," the other plant creature says casually. She blinked in surprise. How…?

"That's interesting," Rin said finally. That, at least, was one way to escape. But, despite her modifications, she wasn't like one of the plant androids – she couldn't move through rock, like they did. So that was out of the question for now…

…Still, it was something she could keep in mind.

She leaned back with a sigh. "You were told to rehabilitate me, right?" Rin asked. "So I could be of use… When will I be able to walk?"

It was frustrating. Rin had never been especially fit, especially not like Gai, and she had no particular desire to do five hundred push-ups on a daily basis anyways… but she had been in shape, and if she really had to do something like that, she could. But now, she couldn't even walk on her own two feet.

"I dunno," Tobi said seriously. "Madara-sama never said anything – I don't even think he knows! But hey, I don't think he'll care if you tried!"

It put a hand to its face, where its mouth should have been, almost as if telling a secret. "We'll cover for you, Rin-chan!"

She nodded, eying the ground with trepidation. "I'll try now, then," Rin said, and with a great deal of effort, pushed herself to the edge of her bed.

A single foot touched the ground. And then, the other. From the corner of her eyes, Rin saw the two plant creatures lean forward, as if interested in her endeavor.

Rin swallowed, and let go of the bed. She wobbled immediately, her legs feeling like wet noodles under her, and a second later, with an uncharacteristic curse, she fell forward onto her face.

Even with her entire face pressed onto the cold gravel, she could hear the two androids' cries of disappointment. She gritted her teeth, and pushed herself up with both arms – her new one buckling and (to her shock) distorting under her weight.

With great effort, Rin had leveraged herself up into a sitting position. She still had a long way to go, that was for sure. How could she find a way out of this cave if she couldn't even take a single step from her bed?

In a blink of an eye, Tobi had jumped in front of her, leaning over her with an air of seriousness. "Don't feel bad, Rin-chan!" It said, giving her a thumbs-up. "You'll get there someday. We'll help you out! And then, you can go see your friends, right?"

She stared. It was a plant creature, it wasn't human, it was an artificial being created to make sure she didn't die before she became useful…

Rin shouldn't feel touched by the gesture. That shouldn't have been motivational.

Still, she couldn't hide the smile on her lips. "Yeah," Rin agreed.

* * *

[A/N: A thing I tossed around in my head a while ago. Anyways, I love Rin, and I wanted to write a fic in which she took center stage. Here it is. My plans for this isn't huge, and I might write Obito and Kakashi's POVs of this universe if I have time.

Honestly, I get ideas from the weirdest things, most of them Naruto Tumblr posts that aren't meant to be anything but a joke. I guess some people think Rin looks like Hashirama? They both have the long brown hair going I guess (I think, for Hashirama? I mean, he has canonically black hair but almost all fanart gives him brown hair.) Either way, it works for this fic.]


	2. Chapter 2

The next few months were a blur. Rin spent less and less time sleeping, while Madara seemed only to spend more time huddled in his corner by the day.

When he was awake, he usually paced around and ranted about things that Rin couldn't really see the connection of. He continuously referenced his plan for… some kind of genjutsu that he wanted to force onto the world, which would create a world without pain or death.

Rin understood what he was coming from. In the few years since she had left the Academy, she had lost dozens of friends on the battlefield. She had killed people – the first one had been a little more than a year ago. She didn't want to lose anyone else, especially not her boys (and no, she still didn't regret pushing Obito out of the way. She couldn't imagine how he would do if he was stuck here – go crazy, probably.)

But that just seemed like the wrong way to do it. Not that Rin said anything against Madara out loud, but it seemed to her that Madara's genjutsu was just that – an illusion.

All she did was nod when it seemed that he wanted her to do. It was an act that Rin had long ago perfected – to be unassuming, to be non-combative, to be shy and accepting.

(That had been how she killed her first man, back then. He gave her an opportunity, and she took it. That was it.)

To her surprise, the other point of interest to Madara was her friendship with Obito. He questioned her continuously on how old they had been when they met, the circumstances concerning their first meeting, and – strangely – whether they had ever skipped stones together.

When she answered that they had, once or twice, but it certainly wasn't a common activity, Madara had looked almost disappointed, in a wrinkly old man kind of way.

Still, her contact with Madara was rather sparse. Rin still had no idea if he knew her name. Tobi and the other plant creatures under his command knew, of course, but the old Uchiha continued to call her by 'girl' whenever he addressed her. She wasn't sure if she should be annoyed at that.

Over the months, Rin had slowly regained her physical capabilities. She remembered vaguely the general gist of physical therapy, though that hadn't been her expertise, and she used it here. Slowly and steadily, she had taken her first steps, huffed and puffed her way through fifty push-ups, and – to her immense shock – discovered her newfound control over plants.

She… hadn't reacted well the first time plant roots burst out from her side.

Madara had squinted at her as if he suspected brain damage, which… wasn't actually impossible, given the injuries she had sustained. But Mokuton, an ability that by all accounts _died out_ generations ago, was not something she was supposed to have.

…Though, if she really _was_ a Senju, then she probably would have had the ability already, right? And so, Rin had made a terrible excuse for her surprise ("It wasn't this strong before," she had said weakly) and Madara had frowned.

"Disappointing… It seems that the Senju line has become quite diluted."

It was easy to suppress her indignation at that, just because it _had_ , even more than Madara knew. She was Nohara Rin, not Senju Rin, after all… But it all reminded her too much of some of the grumpier, meaner (which was most) members of Obito's clan, and their annoying insistence on blood purity. She was thankful that Obito had never been forced into an arranged marriage, because he was passionate and willful, and she feared that something like that would stifle him.

(But as relieved as Obito had been, it had still been a source of embarrassment, because it meant that no one in his clan had deemed him worth the effort. Who wanted their daughter to be betrothed to the dead last of the clan?)

Really, it was surprisingly easy to deceive the old man, but Rin highly suspected that it was less her lying abilities and more that Madara could not comprehend that he could be wrong. He thought she was a Senju, and so she was – evidence to the contrary bowed in the face of Uchiha Madara.

Still, Rin wasn't sure what to do with the ability now that she had it. Like many of her civilian born classmates, she had held childhood fantasies of discovering some hidden kekkai genkai that she could use to become incredibly, ridiculously powerful – like the Sharingan and the Byakugan at the same time, one in each eye. But she had grown out of it with age, and realized that life as a shinobi wasn't like a storybook.

She wasn't the protagonist with incredible abilities and limitless chakra. All she had on her side was above-average chakra control, which lead her to become a medic-nin – to become support. Rin would never be as famous as Tsunade of the Sannin, but she could protect her friends.

That was good enough.

Rin stared intensely at the twig growing from her right hand. It made sense – her right side was plant matter already, so it shouldn't be surprising that things could grow from it.

"Woah! Nice job, Rin-chan!"

She started, with a yelp. Over the months, she had accustomed herself somewhat to the constant presence of the two androids who had been charged with her care and keeping… though, not by much.

Rin wasn't sure if she would ever be used to plant creatures jumping in and out of her personal space, often yelling loudly.

"Thank you, Tobi," she said after a moment, although with a smile. The plant creature didn't budge, face tilted toward her in the way that meant it wanted something from her (mostly, more information about human bodily functions.) Rin sighed mentally, but asked politely, "Tobi, do you need something?"

It was natural for Rin to treat everyone with some degree of kindness, just because she didn't see the benefit of getting on a person's bad side. It wasn't much different for Tobi and the other plant creatures. After all, they had no intentions of harming her, and in fact, been very friendly to her during her whole stay. Of course, they were odd creatures, with constant questions about human bodily functions, but Rin had experienced much worse in captivity.

"Rin-chan, I have a question..." It trailed off expectantly.

Rin racked her brains. She had already been asked about every detail of the production of human waste (which, as it happened, was a topic she knew a lot about, what with a lot of her work having to do with human body systems.) Rin knew far less about sewage lines, but what little she knew, Tobi now knew as well. Apart from those, the plant creatures didn't seem to show interest in much else.

"What is it?" She asked, stumped.

"You say a lot of weird stuff in your sleep," Tobi said, oblivious to the blood draining from Rin's face at the realization. "We're all super curious! You kept saying 'obiobiobi' once, and then something about a scarecrow -"

Rin let out a sigh of relief. She... had never been one for sleep talking (or for dreams, for that matter) and it was worrying that she might have given away information that she had not intended to. Her dreams lately had been deep and vivid, often pulling from reality to set its frame.

But this was information that Madara, if not the plant creatures, already knew.

"My teammates' names are Kakashi and Obito," she told them. "I was probably thinking of them in my sleep."

"Obito... " Said the other plant clone in thought. He was the one that Rin had been thinking of as 'Shiro' because of the unnatural pallor of his appearance. "Huh... the name sounds familiar. Wait...!" He (because it was much easier to think of it as that, with its masculine face and body) and held a single finger up. "He's from Madara-sama's clan, right?"

"Eh?" Tobi exclaimed, in clear fascination. "Does he look like a smaller Madara-sama?"

She took a moment to imagine a younger Madara... which was difficult, seeing how the man had a presence as if he had born as old (and grouchy) as he was now. "No," Rin said finally. "They both have spiky hair, but... Obito's hair is a great deal shorter. And, I don't think they look anything alike, to be honest."

There was a lot more than that, because Obito had always been obviously set apart from the rest of his clan, with his sweet smiles and cheerful disposition contrasting greatly with the grimaces and constantly schooled expressions of his relatives. He was worlds apart from the other Uchiha that Rin had seen around the village, to the point that she hadn't connected Uchiha Obito to the actual elite _clan_ until a full week after she first met him.

Both clones looked intrigued at the discovery. "Weird," said Shiro. "How can humans be related and still look that different?"

Rin shrugged. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go in-depth with human genetics in this conversation. "Obito's a lot different from the rest of his clan," she said.

Neither of the creatures seemed much interested on that topic. "Obito's a boy, huh?" Tobi thought out loud. "We've never met a boy before - the only humans we know are you and Madara-sama. Hey," it said, voice curious, "what kind of parts do boys have?"

"...Madara is a boy," Rin pointed out weakly. It seemed that the conversation was moving in a direction she wasn't sure she liked. "Um, isn't Shiro also...?"

Both Tobi and Shiro looked surprised at that. "We don't have any parts!" Tobi exclaimed. Shirou thrust his pelvis forward helpfully, leaves unfurling to reveal a distinct lack of anything. "See?" Rin couldn't help but shrink backwards a bit, face vaguely pink.

"Huh," said Shiro thoughtfully. "Madara-sama doesn't have the -" he made cupping motions around his chest, " - like you do, Rin-chan! So the thing he has underneath," he gestured helpfully to his crotch, "you don't have that either?"

By now, Rin had already covered her face, which had probably grown an alarmingly red. This was quickly rising up on her personal list of 'Embarrassing Moments', and she was growing more and more desperate for it to be over. "No," she said, mortified. "No, I'm a girl - only boys have those."

"So Obito -" She nodded her head frantically.

Tobi tilted its head. "What did it look like?" It asked obliviously. "...Rin-chan, are you okay? You're changing colors again -"

"I've never seen it!" Rin squeaked. At the plant clones' obvious disappointment, she added, "Both boy parts and girl parts are, um, very private. Seeing each other's parts... that only happens if two people are very close. Like... boyfriends and girlfriends, or husbands and wives."

"Oh," it said. "So Obito isn't your boyfriend?"

"No," she replied, the color slowly fading from her face as the conversation took a decided turn for the less awkward. "He's my best friend. But we're not close like _that_."

Shiro widened his eyes. "Hey, what about the scarecrow guy? The other guy on your team. Is _he_ your boyfriend?"

"K- _Kakashi_?" Rin stammered, a luminescent blush again appearing on her face. Maybe she had spoken too soon. "Um... I - I don't know if he's interested in that," she finished weakly.

There was something oddly inscrutable about the expression on his face. "But Rin-chan _does_ want scarecrow guy to be her boyfriend!" He declared.

"Yes," she squeaked, before she managed to calm herself down again. "But he's, um, I don't think he likes me back. Anyways... both Kakashi and Obito are very important to me... it doesn't matter who I have a crush on."

Tobi stared at her, gaze more than just a little unsettling. But then, it was a faceless plant creature. "I bet you miss both of them very much, Rin-chan! You should work hard here, and then you'll get to see them both real soon."

"I hope so," Rin admitted. "...I hope they're doing okay, though."

"I bet they are," said Tobi, an odd note in his voice.

* * *

Sometimes, Rin asked the plant clones to bring her things back from the outside. "I'm sure Madara won't care," she told them. "I just miss a lot of things that are on the outside.

Tobi and Shiro took turns investigating the outside - for _what_ , they never said - but they agreed that getting their hands on things like candy or a mirror shouldn't interfere with their missions. (A bingo book, on the other hand, was soundly denied. They - and Madara, by extension - weren't _that_ oblivious, it seemed.)

The candy was an experiment, she decided. Rin knew she didn't have to eat. But _could_ she? There was always the possibility that the plant matter graft had altered her digestive and excretory systems in a way that made them obsolete... After all, the plant creatures didn't have any organs.

But Rin wasn't exactly happy with the idea of never being able to eat anything again. Besides, there was a constant coppery taste in her mouth, and anything that would get it out would be greatly appreciated.

Several chocolate bars, a bag of hard candy, and a stale red bean bun later, Rin could confidently say that her sense of taste was fully intact. But devouring the stash had resulted in nothing else. The constant feeling of fullness had not changed in either direction - no feeling bloated, no nausea from the copious amounts of sugar, no aches that indicated an input into a body system that no longer worked - it was as if she hadn't eaten anything at all.

After several days had passed without any side-effects, natural or not, of her first meal in months, Rin let out a sigh of relief. That, at least, wasn't a worry.

The mirror, on the other hand, was... significantly more superficial. There were no reflective surfaces in the cave, no pools of water that she could glance at to see her reflection. All Rin could see was the unnatural pallor of her right arm and side, and...

Well, Rin had never been incredibly concerned with her appearance. She was very aware that her looks put her right in the middle of the 'average' category, but it had never bothered her. She wasn't exceptionally pretty, but she wasn't exceptionally ugly either. That was fine.

In fact, the last time she had paid any attention to her appearance was when she had finally decided that she would confess to Kakashi about her feelings for him, right after the mission. That... hadn't materialized.

But now, she had survived a close encounter with several tons of rock. Rin had already seen the scars on her body and limbs. She... just wanted to see how bad the damage was to her face, which might have been just a little vain.

Rin stared into the mirror. It took her a few minutes to take it in.

There were scars, whorled shapes stretching down her face. That must have been where the rock had struck her, causing flesh to swell and rupture the skin, she thought distantly. It was amazing that her eye was still intact, really. But right now, she couldn't help but stare at the deep curves of scar tissue. This couldn't be covered up, she knew, they were too big, too deep, too _obvious_ for that.

And coupled with the obvious paleness of the right side of her face and her hair shorn patchily, to the scalp in some places... she looked terrible. She looked _grotesque_ , and Rin trembled. There was no way Kakashi would like her back with her looking like this, she thought dizzily. Or, for that matter, anyone remotely interested in a relationship. The civilians would find her horrifying - her own civilian cousins had always gossiped about the horrific scars they've seen on some particularly mangled shinobi, and this was undoubtedly worse than a chunk taken out of her ear or cut over the nose.

"Rin-chan, are you okay?" Tobi asked, a note of worry in its voice. It had been the one to hand her the mirror. "You've been staring at that thing for a while now..."

Rin took a deep breath. Why... Why was she so concerned about that anyways? "I'm fine!" She replied, voice artificially high, falsely cheery. "I was just surprised, that's all."

It didn't matter. Obito wouldn't care how she looked - that was the kind of person he was. And Kakashi... she couldn't say anything sure about him, but he wasn't superficial. Else, he would have had a girlfriend or boyfriend long ago - there must have been someone in his horde of admirers that was his type.

...Her appearance could be worried about later. Right now, her main concern was getting back to Kakashi and Obito and her dad and Minato-sensei and - The list went on and on. Rin couldn't let them down.

* * *

Without sunlight and distinct intervals of day and night, it was impossible for Rin to estimate exactly how many days had passed since she left her team. All she could estimate was _long_ \- multiple months, perhaps even a year... the difference of each day became indistinct.

She could only measure the passage of time through the progress made. Rin regained her ability to walk and gained some degree of control over her new Mokuton, to the cheers and encouragement of Tobi and Shiro, both of whom she had begun to think of - however unwisely - as friends.

Rin was in the middle of her daily hundred push-ups when she heard the shout. "Rin-chan! Rin-chan!"

She glanced to the side, her eyes widening at the sight of Shiro sticking halfway out of the massive boulder that blocked the exit of the cave. There was a look of panic on his face, which was startling unfamiliar.

"Shiro...? What happened?"

"I was just outside," the android exclaimed, its one pupil-less eye wide in shock, "and I saw - Obito and the scarecrow guy, they're in some kind of trouble!"

Her mind went blank. "Obito, Kakashi...?" Rin's eyes widened. "What -?"

"The two of them were completely alone, and surrounded by enemy shinobi! Rin-chan, I don't know how long they're going to last... there was a lot of blood, and -"

Rin... didn't need any prompting. She was up and at the boulder in seconds, the fear of Madara - still slumped in his chair - completely vanished from her mind. She had to get out of here, Kakashi and Obito needed her help, they were _hurt_ -

 _It's not good to hide your wounds, you know. I'm looking after you._

She gritted her teeth at the memory of the promise she had made Obito. He needed her now, and all that was standing in her way was this damn rock that she had no chance of breaking.

Rin glanced at Shiro again, and how his body simply seemed to phase through the earth wall. "Shiro, Tobi... is there any way that you two can bring me along with you? I _have_ to go help them -"

"...Yeah, there is," said Tobi, extending an arm toward her. She took it in bemusement - and the spirals of Tobi's body seemed to come apart, seizing her like the maw of some kind of deep-sea predator. "You can wear my body!"

She forced herself not to struggle, and swallowed in worry as the plant tendrils that made up Tobi's body closed up around her face.

"I thought you two served Madara," Rin asked suspiciously. Surely, after trapping her in here for so long... Madara wouldn't let her go so easily.

Shiro shrugged visibly. "...Don't you want to save Kakashi and Obito?" He asked, head tilted.

...That wasn't an answer, and the lack of clarity only heightened Rin's suspicions. But then... this was Kakashi and Obito in danger. She couldn't let them die just because of a few cryptic words. "You know I do."

The plant creature's expression spoke clearly. _Then why question a good thing?_

Rin bit her lip even as her world was compressed into one bright dot - Tobi's one eye hole forced her to shut her left eye in order to lessen her nausea. Of _course_ she had to question a good thing - that was what shinobi did, look underneath the underneath. And, if there was one word to describe the plant creatures... it was _suspicious._ All of this... seemed a bit too convenient to be true.

It felt odd, being enclosed of Tobi's body - for lack of a better word - like this. Rin turned away from Madara and eyed the massive boulder. She squeezed her fist, and felt the incredible power that had become open to her.

There was nothing left to be said. Rin took a running start before she slammed her fist into the rock wall - and felt it _give_. Her clenched fist kept going as the boulder disintegrated and broke into smaller pieces around the impact point, and she had a feeling that she was grinning rather maniacally underneath the Tobi armor.

...In her defense, it was pretty much every young medic nin's dream to be like Tsunade-sama of the Sannin, and not _just_ because of her healing prowess.

The entire boulder, ten feet across, cracked and broke. "...I thought you were going to just phase through the wall," Tobi said around her, somewhat plaintive.

Rin shrugged. She could have. But with _this_ option available, it was hardly a choice. She casually reached around to the back of her neck, and ripped away the root that connected Tobi - and her, by extension - to the huge desiccated statue. Tobi's 'face' unraveled, until the tendrils that made up his body curled up around her neck, almost like an octopus extending its tentacles. She sighed in relief at the return of binocular vision.

"So, you're going...?"

Madara's gravelly voice sent a shiver down Rin's spine. She didn't turn around to look at him.

"Thank you for saving me, Madara-sama," she said, as politely as she could with escape so close. "But I can't stay. I need to protect my friends."

"Heh. Is that so?" Somehow, she _knew_ that a wrinkled smile had appeared on his face. "You're impatient - that's something you have in common with your ancestors, Senju."

Rin walked forward, ignoring Madara's words, even as thoughts whirled within her mind. Why... wasn't he ordering the plant androids to bring her back? It was as easy as a single word - it wasn't as if she could put up a fight, as trapped within Tobi as she was.

"You will return," Madara called out, and there was a concrete promise within his voice. "And when you do... You will thank me, Senju."

And then... because Rin knew how to add one and one to get two, that's when she realized.

 _Madara wanted her to leave_.

It was a wholly unsavory thought. The idea of doing anything the strange old man wanted her to do _grated_.

But. Kakashi and Obito were out there - that's what Shiro and Tobi agreed on. She wouldn't let them die just to interfere with... whatever plans Madara had for her. It wasn't _worth_ it.

"Shiro," she called out, voice hard. "Where's Kakashi and Obito?"

He tilted his head. "I'll show you the way, Rin-chan!"

* * *

Rin made her way through the forest quickly, jumping from tree to tree with a strength and agility that she was entirely unused to.

The trees rushed past her in blurs of varying degrees of green. "How's Kakashi and Obito doing right now?" She asked urgently.

"Um, it looks pretty bad," said Tobi, its body thrumming around her as it spoke. "Apparently all the enemies are Kiri ANBU and jounin. At least, that's what they're saying. It looks like there are at least two dozen of them."

Her eyes widened. 'Bad' was an understatement. Kakashi was a jounin and Obito had the Sharingan, but... the three of them had gone up against a handful of Iwa jounin, and the results had been pretty terrible. Two _dozen_ enemies...

"Is Minato-sensei with them, at least?"

"Who?"

"The Yellow Flash," she amended. "Is he with them?"

Tobi paused for a moment. "Um, looks like he's a few dozen miles away..." It said apologetically. "Maybe he's on a different mission."

Bad, bad, _bad_. Rin understood too well how the shrinking Konoha shinobi corps strained to cover all parts of the war effort. The hospital had been especially affected, in that aspect. So, she couldn't exactly blame Minato-sensei for not being able to be there. But _still_...

 _Boys... please be working together._ That had been what she had begged Kakashi and Obito to do, as she choked out what she thought was her last breaths. Rin was the primary audience to the boys' apparent inability to be in the vicinity of one another for more than a few minutes before getting into a fight with each other. Fighting together, working as a team... all that was out of the question.

She could only hope that they were looking out for each other now. Maybe then, they could stand a chance.

As she and Tobi get closer and closer to the edge of the forest, Rin could hear the dull roar of battle - the muffled shouts of techniques, the hiss and splash and crackling that spoke of the elements clashing. And... there was some kind of pressure in the air, like killing intent but more... _monstrous_ , as if emitted not by a human but by some kind of beast.

She was here. The edge of the clearing laid before her, and it was easy for Rin to see the combatants easily.

Rin noticed Kakashi first, his distinctive silver hair a beacon to her eyes. But he was quite literally _surrounded_ by chakra, one of a malevolent, uncontrolled, entirely un-Kakashi make. It ballooned up around him, forming tendrils that looked almost like _tails,_ which waved angrily around him. There was an unearthly sound emanating from his form - he was _screaming_.

There was something strange about his image; it distorted slightly, like heat waves on a hot summer's day.

 _But_ , she thought, automatically looking for spiky black hair and orange goggles, _where was Obito -_

Several things happened in quick succession.

Rin saw a single dark haired figure, clad in a familiar jounin's flak jacket - no goggles, and with dual crimson eyes focused on Kakashi's form, but unmistakably the form of Uchiha Obito.

Somehow, the distortion around Kakashi's form was Obito's doing - its magnitude increased, along with the volume of Kakashi's bestial screams, even as what was obviously _blood_ flowed from Obito's Sharingan in twin trails.

He was _attacking_ Kakashi with his Sharingan, what was he -

Rin moved to jump forward, just as one of Kakashi's 'tails' shot out from his writhing, distorting form.

She halted in her tracks, her voice caught in her throat. Rin stared forward, horrified.

Obito hung soundlessly from the chakra tendril that had just punched right though his abdomen.

But his eyes were still staring forward at Kakashi, Sharingan still whirling, even as he coughed up blood. Just a few seconds later, the swirling around Kakashi's form reached its peak, and he - tails and all, including the one that had speared Obito through - disappeared, as if wiped from existence itself.

Without the tail to hold him up, Obito stumbled forward a step, swaying on his feet. With horrified fascination, Rin realized that she could see right _through_ him.

Then, with a soft sigh that sounded too loud to her ears, he fell forward.

Rin's mind went suddenly, horrifyingly blank.

* * *

[A/N: Oh, look at that. I've been impaled!

I'll be gone for the next four days on my first (paid!) college visit. I'll be super busy during that time, so... don't expect an update for any of my fics for at least a week.]


	3. Chapter 3

A torrent of questions rushed through Rin's dazed mind.

Why had Kakashi and Obito been fighting? What had been the chakra emanating from Kakashi, back then? Why had they – they – _k_ _illed each other_ , she knows but could not bring herself to accept, even with Kakashi sucked into some rift in reality and Obito's broken body in the clearing, with a hole in his abdomen that Rin knew, with the certainty of years of medical experience, was a mortal injury.

She didn't have answers to any of them. All she had were two dead teammates, two dead _friends_ ; two of the most important people in the world to her had just _killed each other_ –

"Rin-chan," said Tobi tentatively, its body humming around hers as it spoke. "The hunter nin from Kiri, they're –"

Yes. Rin could feel their presence, three dozen or so bright spots, not one of them even trying to conceal their chakra signature. Why bother? Their quarry had already been brought down. There were no more enemies for them to fight.

They had been chasing Kakashi and Obito. It was because of them that her teammates had –

Rin stepped forward into the clearing, Tobi's tendrils converging to hide her face. She could see the hunter nin now, scattered around the edges of the clearing like flies preparing to roost on carrion. As one, their heads turned toward her.

"Reinforcements?" She heard distantly. "Too bad they only sent one –"

Their voices become a distant hum. Rin clenched her right hand into a fist and, in the back of her mind, could feel the tightly coiled power that was Mokuton. The chakra was right there, and all she had to do was take it and _use_ it.

A thump of a footstep, and Rin looked up. One of the hunter nin was running towards her, the steel in his hands held at the ready.

She knew what to do. It was easy to reach out a single hand and let all the power she felt within… _grow_. It felt _natural_ , she decided, even as her opponent staggered backwards, screaming hoarsely as roots forced themselves out of his body, growing wildly with his flesh and blood as fertilizer.

Warm blood splattered on her face. The hunter nin wasn't screaming anymore, the body limp on the ground, and it suddenly felt very quiet in the clearing.

Then, the other hunter nin came at her as one, shouting insults and threats that blurred together, incoherent.

Rin stepped forward, roots sprouting out of the ground in her peripheral vision. She had struggled with her new abilities back underground, concentrating for hours in order to grow a single branch. But now, she can feel the thrum of power in every tree surrounding the clearing, and she knew – without a doubt – that she could harness them with a thought.

As it turned out, the strength Rin had used to break down the large boulder blocking the exit to Madara's cave worked just as well against human bodies.

Being a medic-nin with no particular strength or techniques, Rin was used to targeting her enemy's weak spots, the parts of the body that she knew caused the most pain and damage. But after the first few enemies went flying with a punch, parts of their bodies sunken or bent at impossible angles, roots bursting out of their sides –

With the strength to reduce the human body to a slurry of flesh and blood, it really didn't matter where she hit.

Bone cracked and split under her fist. Occasionally, warm blood splattered through Tobi's single eyehole and flowed down the right side of her scarred face.

Rin wasn't sure how much time had passed, how many Kiri nin she had killed, when she hears in the far distance, "Retrieve the body, we can still –"

 _Obito_.

"They want his Sharingan," Tobi said seriously, and Rin straightened back up, ignoring the bodies at her feet. She was still being mobbed by enemies, but she could see half a dozen dark forms converging upon the limp body of her best friend. For one, frightening moment, Rin saw _red_.

Her hesitance had been enough time for the Kiri nin to cage her in. She couldn't attack one without being ganged up on by the others, and Rin knew that even Tobi's plant body could not protect against cold steel.

"Rin-chan," Tobi hummed around her, with just the smallest bit of worry. "There's a technique that you can use–"

She ignored it. Rin flexed her fingers, and remembered what her mentor at the Konoha Hospital had taught her – had _tried_ to teach her, because she just couldn't get it down the first few weeks and then, the mission at Kannabi Bridge had happened, and she had bigger worries after that than figuring out chakra scalpels.

She felt the flow of chakra down her arms, so much more than she was used to that it was almost frightening. Rin knew she couldn't concentrate enough to form the precise amount of chakra needed for the technique to be fatal, but with Mokuton, she didn't need to cut in order to kill.

Rin extended her fingers, feeling her chakra extend a half meter from their tips. Mokuton used the user's chakra as a source of life, and if she could just insert some of her own chakra into her enemy's bodies –

Her hand twitched, and the Kiri nin who had edged closest to her stumbled back with a cry as roots and plant matter exploded from his chest.

Seconds later, Rin held up the enemy closest to Obito in a single hand, before slamming her into the trunk of a nearby tree. The sharp crack made it clear that the kunoichi would not be getting back up anytime soon.

Slowly, deliberately not looking at the slumped form of her best friend, she turned to stare down the remaining Kiri hunter nin.

It was easy to kill, when she had Mokuton and none of her enemies could even get close to her to strike.

The Kiri nins' elemental techniques fizzled out against newly-grown green wood. She didn't know how much time passed before Rin stood alone in the clearing, momentarily bewildered why her opponents had disappeared – and then, she saw the many broken corpses littering the ground.

"Don't worry. You killed them all, Rin-chan!" Tobi said cheerily, but her gaze and thoughts are fixated on something – or rather, someone – else entirely.

Rin stumbled over to Obito's body, thinking, _nononono-_

Someone had flipped him over, probably one of the Kiri nin who had gotten particularly far before Rin had chased him down.

He looked… different, almost gaunt, with all his old baby fat melted away with age. Obito looked more like his Uchiha relatives now, with his angular, almost aristocratic face. With his longer, shaggier hair, Rin could even see a faint resemblance to Madara.

She had promised to look after him, Rin thought wildly. She had promised to support him on his path to become Hokage, like he had always dreamed of. But instead… she had let her best friend die, right in front of her.

"Let me out, Tobi," she said.

"But Rin-chan –"

"There aren't any enemies. Let me _out_."

Tobi unraveled from around her, leaving her kneeling on the sticky, blood-coated grass. It reformed a distance away, watching her and Obito with an unreadable gaze.

" _Obito_ ," Rin said brokenly, as she took his limp hand with both hands.

It felt clammy but still warm, she decided. Then, it hadn't been long since he had - Rin swallowed.

In fact, she could almost feel a weak pulse on the underside of his –

Obito's eyes shot open, dual whirling Sharingan locking onto her with frightening intensity.

For a second, Rin stared back, pale and frozen, because _how was he_ –

He relaxed visibly at the sight of her face, a smile of pure relief appearing on his bloodstained lips as he slumped back. "R-Rin…?" Obito asked, voice weak.

How did he know she was alive...? "Obito," she choked out. "You -"

"I… didn't expect it would be so soon, but…" He closed his eyes. "…I'm glad it was you who came…"

Rin flinched backwards. No, it wasn't that Obito had known she was alive. He thought she was - she was some kind of a ferry to the afterlife for him, because she was already _dead_.

Except, bringing Obito to the afterlife was the complete last thing on her mind. Obito was alive, wonderfully and gloriously _alive_ – for the next thirty seconds, or however long it took for him to finally bleed out or go into shock.

Rin gritted her teeth and forced chakra into her hands, the green tinge of medical chakra forming around her palms as she slammed them onto Obito's chest, blindly pumping as much as she could into his body –

"Obito," Rin said between gasps, "don't you _dare –_ "

It was no good. The damage done was too much, and Obito had already been here for precious minutes of time. The chakra flowed out of him almost as quickly as it entered, and Rin suddenly regretted taking so long with the Kiri nin. She should have came here first, she shouldn't have underestimated Obito, she should have –

His hand wrapped around her right wrist. "Rin," Obito said weakly. "I - I've always wanted to tell you, but... I never got the chance…" He looked up and into her tearful eyes.

"Obito, what…?"

His smile was blinding, even with the blood on his white, white teeth. "I love you, Rin." With that said, his hand loosened from her wrist and his eyes closed, a peaceful smile on his face even as he slipped back into unconsciousness - or something even deeper.

For a second, Rin stares at him, frozen and uncomprehending, because - Obito had... loved her? As in _romantically_? But - he had always let her rant to him about how Kakashi had ignored her latest advances, about how her Academy crush had died on his last mission, how - Why... why had he never _said_ anything to her?

She gritted her teeth as tears streamed down her face.

"Obito, you idiot," Rin could not help but sob. "If you love me... then why can't you _live_?"

Rin wasn't sure if Obito really had - if he was _gone_ , couldn't bring herself to bring a hand over his wrist to check for a pulse, but her mind still whirled through possibilities.

If she had an electric-based jutsu, maybe she could resuscitate him - but that was _Kakashi_ 's specialty, and Kakashi was - was _dead_ , and even if she could bring Obito back for a minute or so, there was still the matter of the gaping _hole_ in his body.

If only, Rin thought bitterly, there was some way to regrow the flesh and organs that had been destroyed, to replace what was already burned away by that chakra tail -

She blinked, and looked at her hands. Or, more specifically, her right hand.

"Tobi," Rin said suddenly, turning her head to look at the plant android. "I need part of your body."

Tobi stepped closer, gaze fixated on Obito's limp form, its expression even more unreadable than usual. "Rin-chan, there's nothing you can do. We should go back to Madara-sama. He'll take care of the body."

"I'm a medic-nin," Rin bit out. Tobi tilted its head up, clearly surprised by the revelation. She didn't care. "I can do it. I have experience. I don't know if it'll work, but I have to try - Tobi, _please_ ," she pleaded. "I - I told you and Shiro about him, Obito's my best friend -"

"...Sorry, Rin-chan," it said. "I can't do that, even for you."

She glared ineffectually, and briefly considered attacking the creature for the plant material she needed. But Tobi was stronger than she was right now, with a greater mastery of Mokuton and far more chakra than she had.

But... she had that material too, didn't she? Her right arm - her right side of the body, even. Rin gritted her teeth.

If it meant saving Obito's life, losing an arm was _nothing_.

Tobi clearly could read her thought process on her face. "Don't do it, Rin-chan," it said cautiously. "There's only one way to get back to your friends, and this isn't it. Madara-sama will tell you, when we -"

She ignored him, examining her artificial arm with great concentration. If she applied pressure and chakra to the joint, then it should lose form and become more malleable -

"...I'm not going back to Madara," Rin said finally, because - was this why Madara had let her escape? To see her friends die?

She wasn't sure what she would do now, with her teammates gone and Minato-sensei not here, _again_ , and while the idea of reuniting with Kakashi and Obito was tempting ( _so, so tempting_ ) she wouldn't play along with Madara's plans.

She brought her left hand to the shoulder of her right arm, gritted her teeth as she prepared for the pain that was to come -

\- and froze, paralyzed, strength draining out of her entire body and a spot over her heart _burning_ -

"I wish you hadn't done that, Rin-chan," said Tobi, tone apologetic, even as its hollow eye socket burned into her with furious intensity. "Shiro and I both hoped you would listen to Madara-sama. That would have made it easier for everyone! But now," it added, disappointment evident in its tone, "Madara-sama has to resort to his back-up plans."

It shook its head sadly, and said, as if scolding a child, "Rin-chan is a bad girl!"

"Tobi, you -" She managed through clenched teeth, the betrayal hitting her like a freight train even though she really should have _known_.

Tobi stepped forward, its head having already unraveled into its component tendrils. 'Deep-sea predator' had never seemed a more apt description than it was now, with its spines wiggling happily as Tobi moved to claim its prey.

"Don't worry, we'll still bring Obito-kun along with us!" It added cheerfully. "Madara-sama had always wondered what would happen if Senju and Uchiha abilities were brought together. Now he can find out!"

Rin could only glare as Tobi - as the _creature_ approached her frozen form. She had suspected that something was off about the plant androids, but after countless hours in that underground cave, she didn't want to believe that it had all been an act.

Its arm reached out to wrap its fingers on her arm, and as much as she tried, she could not jerk it away. It moved even closer, its spines whirling wildly, and it moved to envelope her immobile form -

\- and a familiar blue sphere of crackling chakra energy, cradled by a single hand, slammed down on Tobi's writhing body, mere inches away from Rin's pale face.

With her brief window of control over her own body, Rin yanked her arm back and scrambled backwards, staring in shock as pieces of Tobi splattered around her. Half of its head was gone, and so was its body. Still, the pieces continued to squirm and jerk, until the Rasengan wiped them straight off the face of the planet.

The form before her straightened, Rasengan dissipating from his hand. Rin could just make out familiar blonde hair and a dramatic white longcoat ( _Yondaime_ , she thought blankly. _That was new._ ) before a pair of clear blue eyes focused on her, and widened in stunned disbelief.

"Rin?" He asked, sounding as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Minato-sensei," Rin whispered, the name practically a prayer on her lips, as she smiled tearfully. For a moment, despite being a few hundred miles from home, with Obito dying _dead_ behind her and Kakashi _gone_ , she felt _hope_. " _Sensei_ , you're here!"

* * *

[A/N: Obito's a cockroach, in the very best sense of the word.

Sorry for the short chapter! I only just got back yesterday morning. I almost considered cutting off the chapter with Rin frozen and Tobi moving in for the kill, but... I was evil enough last time. Things are taking a turn for the better, that's for sure.

((I'm not GRRM - take that as you will))

Most questions should be answered in the next chapter, but feel free to ask any questions in your reviews! I have no idea if I accounted for everything. I will say that there are several things that Madara did not take into account, which messed up his plans - foremost of which are the actual mechanics of Obito's Kamui.]


	4. Chapter 4

There was so much that could have been said, in those seconds of dead silence as the two regarded each other with wide eyes. Rin had been gone for months, if not an entire year, and it was clear to her, looking at her teacher's narrowed eyes, that he wasn't exactly take her survival and appearance for given.

But there was no time to talk. It only takes one glance at the still squirming pieces of plant matter to remember – Tobi might be gone, but it hadn't been the only one.

"There are more of them," Rin blurted, taking advantage of the return of her control over her own body. "At least half a dozen. They can use Mokuton and travel underground - Madara already knows what happened, the others will be here within minutes –"

Minato-sensei widened his eyes at the mention of 'Madara', but thankfully, didn't stop to ask. He nodded once, decision made. "Then we will have to leave now."

Rin shook her head. Even now, it was only the large amounts of healing chakra she was pumping into Obito's body that he was even breathing, albeit increasingly shallowly. Any interruption in that, even as quick as Sensei's Hiraishin… "Sensei, in his condition… Obito won't survive the journey. I know how to heal him –"

There was pity in Minato-sensei's eyes. "Rin… with injuries like that, Obito won't survive either way." His words were halting, and his voice cracked at the end. It was a fact that he didn't want to acknowledge either.

But it wasn't a fact. He didn't know about the Zetsu plant matter, or how it had helped her survive the boulder. Nor was it something she could explain without sounding insane – which wouldn't be surprising to Sensei at all, considering the conditions of most prisoners of war.

"I can do it," she repeated, knowing full well that Minato-sensei could transport them against her will. "Sensei, please –"

A twitch, at the periphery of her thoughts, felt in the same way she could feel the power of Mokuton at her fingertips during the battle. Something was moving underground under her, a hundred feet – fifty – twenty-five – ten –

Her eyes widened, and Minato-sensei leaped in her direction just as Rin threw herself to the left with a grunt, eyes narrowed with the effort of keeping Obito alive. A second later, the earth erupted, and what could only be described as a monster, inhumanely pale with swirling tendrils, emerged and dove toward her, maw opened wide –

Sensei met it halfway with another Rasengan, but this time, the technique was far less effective. It only succeeded to force the creature back and away from Rin and Obito, where it began to consolidate in a vaguely humanoid, _familiar_ form.

 _…Is that what Tobi looked like, unraveled…?_ It was an odd thought, borne half from hysteria. Rin shook it from her mind.

"They can regenerate – you have to destroy them completely!" She exclaimed.

Minato-sensei nodded, and, incongruously enough, smiled hugely. "I see. I'll take care of this. Just… Rin-chan, please, do what you can for Obito. Once this is over, Kakashi and Obito will be glad to have you back in the village!"

And with that, he dove forward – and Rin looked away, unable to keep the tears of joy from coming to her eyes. The prospect of finally going home again and seeing everyone again – her dad, her boys, Genma and Gai and all the rest of her friends… It seemed unbelievable. It would have been unbelievable just a few minutes ago, but now…

A quick twist of her arm essentially severed it, the plant matter collapsing into goo at the point of pressure. A simple modification of its structure made the rest of arm lose its shape and become soft and malleable.

It felt almost _too_ easy… but then again, Madara hadn't been trained in medical ninjutsu. He had been a warrior forced into the role of scientist and researcher, and he had approached his resources the same way as he would any battle. He had figured it out over decades of seclusion. But Rin _did_ have medical training, and she had been stuck underground for almost a year with nothing to do but investigate and develop. Medic-nin knew their way around the human body, and Rin was no exception.

The sounds of battle was deafening, and Rin had to work against the numbness stretching out from her chest – no doubt, Madara trying to exact his control again – in order to meld the plant matter with the edges of Obito's gaping wound. It was difficult, especially so with one hand with increasingly reduced mobility, but this was Rin's entire future at her hands. Going home again with her boys… depended on Obito _surviving_.

It was precision work. Rin could see now that Kakashi's chakra tail had punched right through Obito's upper abdomen, destroying the lower pair of ribs and luckily, missing his heart. That... was something even Rin could not heal.

But as inhumane the plant matter was, it took human cues very easily. It melded with human flesh and bone as if that was what it was meant for - and maybe it _was._ Rin didn't have the time to contemplate the frightening similarities between this plant matter and human flesh, however. Under the green glow of Rin's healing chakra, what had been two different substances entirely merged, leaving a disconcertingly pale splotch in the midst of pink, regrown skin.

Rin slumped back, satisfied by Obito's slow, constant breathing – asleep, hopefully, not unconscious. Without the pressing concern of Obito's health, she could again feel Madara's will asserting itself – _returnreturnreturn_ was the refrain repeating itself in her mind with _bring the boy_ as an afterthought, and she found that she had to force herself to stay in place.

Footsteps, behind her. With difficulty, she turned her head.

Minato-sensei looked between her and Obito, an unreadable expression on his face. "Rin, is he…?" He asked softly and hesitantly, as if he didn't want to know the answer.

"Stable," Rin managed with some difficulty. "Sensei, there's – a seal, over my heart, I can't – Take Obito back, but you have to destroy –"

She blinked. There was something that felt like paper stuck to her forehead, obscuring part of her vision.

Which was – blurring, darkening around the edges, and why couldn't she feel her chakra?

"A seal," Minato-sensei said simply, a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. "I used a similar one on Kakashi. Sorry Rin, we just need to get out of here now."

 _Ah. Right. Sensei and seals. Why didn't I think of that?_ Rin wondered, somewhat woozily, and fell forward.

* * *

She opened her eyes to see a cracked, white ceiling, feeling soft mattress under her body. Soft. After months of living in a cave, that was a word she didn't expect to use again.

Rin blinked. It took her a few seconds to realize just where she was, because unlike _some_ people she knew, she didn't spend most of her time in the village resting up from really unnecessary injuries, thank you very much. She did spend a lot of time here in the Konoha Hospital, but... not from the patient's point of view. Most injuries she sustained in the field, she took care of herself.

Konoha Hospital. _Konoha_ Hospital. She was _back_.

She couldn't stop the wide grin that appeared on her face, or the tears of joy that had begun to accumulate at the edges of her eyes - not that she wanted to, not at all. Rin let out a hysterical giggle - she was home!

"...Did you hear something?" Said someone from outside her room. Then, much more urgently, "Oh shit, no, Gai, stop -"

The door to her room slammed open with a bang - Rin didn't even have to see the green jumpsuit-ed leg in the doorway to know that her visitor had kicked it open.

"Rin-chan!" Gai shouted, tears streaming down his eyes and turning his jumpsuit a darker green. "My friend... you have finally awoken!"

Behind him, a rather uncertain-looking Genma peeked around the doorway, and visibly relaxed at the sight of her awake. "Dodged a kunai there," he muttered, walking in and shutting the door gingerly behind him. "If I let Gai storm into your room under a false alarm, that asshole teammate of yours would put me underground in _pieces_."

Somehow, Rin doubted Kakashi would do that. She smiled, however. "It's... good to see you two again, Gai, Genma."

"It's been a... pretty long time," Genma agreed, voice suspiciously choked.

Rin could tell. The passing of time didn't seem to register, with || unaging and effectively immortal. But Gai and Genma had grown a _lot_ \- there were muscles rippling under Gai's skintight jumpsuit than there was before, and baby fat had disappeared from both of their faces, making them look more angular.

More adult. Really, they had all been kids when Rin had... left - kids who had already taken lives, but kids nonetheless. Just like Obito -

She froze. Where was her team? "Gai, Genma... did Kakashi and Obito... are they okay?" Her mouth felt dry - Rin almost dreaded the answer.

Genma suddenly looked very awkward. Even Gai seemed to look a bit serious.

Rin slumped. "Please -" She choked out.

"It's... not as bad as you think," Genma said finally. "They're not dead." Still, it was clear that he was deliberately not saying something. "It kinda has to do with the reason why they're not here. I mean, Gai and I are probably not the welcome committee you expected. The Yondaime and his wife spent a lot of time in here after you came back - three or four days, at least. But I mean, the Yondaime's still the _Yondaime_ , no matter how much he gives the clan heads the death glare, and his wife had to train with Kakashi. They recruited us to take their place during the day, but hey," he shrugged, "Gai and I would have agreed to it regardless."

The torrent of information made Rin blink. "The Yondaime - that's -" Memories of the white cloak. "That's Minato-sensei, right? And his wife..." No way... "Don't tell me -"

"Uzumaki Kushina is indeed the wife of the Yondaime, Rin-chan," Gai offered.

Rin punched the bed. "What!" She exclaimed, furious. "I - I can't _believe_ it. I spend years setting them up in every way possible... and I missed their wedding! What the hell!"

Years of fantasies, down the drain. "Being the bridesmaid at Sensei and Kushina-san's wedding" had been up there with "having Kakashi as a boyfriend" and "cheering at Obito's swearing-in as Hokage" in terms of life goals. And that was robbed from her by a giant rock and a creepy old man.

"Rin, please calm down," Genma practically begged. He had been Rin's staunchest (but unwilling) ally in getting the two lovebirds together, what with asking Kakashi a very, very bad idea and Obito completely oblivious to most things romantic. "It's a bit of a secret anyways, and I wouldn't even be surprised if they had another ceremony -"

"I -" She was about to break into another tirade when - "Kushina-san's... been training a lot with Kakashi? And... three or four _days?_ How long have I _been_ here?"

"Two weeks," he said apologetically. Rin blanched. "Well... Apparently they had to run a lot of check-ups when you first got here. I probably know less than you do - heck, we didn't know you were _alive_ until you had been in the village for a week. I guess it's some top-secret stuff, but..." Genma shrugged. "I don't know anything about what's going on with Kakashi. You'll have to ask him when he's -"

He turned pale. "Oh shit, we forgot to tell one of the nurses that you were awake! Shit, Gai and I are gonna get killed by the fucking Hokage, the Red-Hot Habenero, and Hatake fucking _Kakashi_ -"

"I am certain that my Dynamic Entrance made that fact well-known," Gai offered.

"Okay," Genma replied sourly, expression haunted. "No murder, then. Just a hospitalization or two."

"I... don't think my team would react _that_ badly..." Rin trailed off. Maybe Obito, but Obito would have to try very hard to put Gai or Genma in the hospital.

Gai and Genma exchanged a look. "Rin," said Genma finally, "you have _no_ idea. Look, like I said, things changed a _lot_ while you were gone."

Rin didn't ask further, because it was a clear attempt to steer her on a much happier point of conversation - and several mental pieces were clicking into place for a conclusion that made her guts twist coldly. There was one member of her team that Genma and Gai were both avoiding as if their lives depended on it. "...What happened to Obito?"

She hadn't known Gai could shuffle awkwardly, but he did so now. "You see, Rin-chan, upon your team's triumphant return to the village, my Eternal Rival -"

"Obito's in a coma," said Genma bluntly. "He's been in one since your team returned."

Rin blanched, the fingers on her single hand gripping the metal railing of the bed tightly.

"...What?" She croaked, disbelieving. Rin had healed him, she had been sure he was just sleeping, if the plant matter had allowed her to survive without half of her body, surely - "But - he was -"

For the second time that day, the door slammed open. Three pairs of eyes turned to stare at the horrifying abomination standing at the doorway into the room - eyes glowing a malevolent, poisonous yellow, blood red-tendrils of hair whipping around the air, several of them already wrapped around and dragging an unfortunate victim.

"YOU TWO!" She shouted, pointing at Genma and Gai, murder in her eyes as she stomped inside. "You were supposed to tell me _directly_ , 'ttebane! But instead, I got a medic-nin crashing our training session and that moron over there," she gestured at the struggling victim entangled in her hair, "just went _ballistic_ -"

"K-Kushina-san?" Rin interrupted weakly. The woman in question turned to stare at her with wide eyes, as if she hadn't fully registered her presence. What had been twisting tendrils of murder suddenly became regular hair, and Kushina's victim tumbled to the ground, revealing familiar gray hair and - "And... _Kakashi_?"

There was a moment of mutual silence, interrupted by Genma seeing an opportunity for escape. "Let's catch up later, Rin," he whispered, and before she could respond, ran quickly out the door, yanking Gai with him.

The door shut again with a click. Kakashi pushed himself to his feet to a grunt - just from first glance, the only change that Kakashi had underwent was that he was just a bit taller. Same messy hair, same obscuring face mask, same half-lidded eyes - though now boring into her with frightening intensity.

"Rin," he said in a monotone.

"Kakashi...?" Rin replied, a tad uncertainly. Where... was this going?

He just kept staring. She blinked uncomfortably.

Kushina twitched angrily, obviously fed-up with the lack of... well, anything. "Stop being a moron, dammit!" She exclaimed, jabbing a finger in Kakashi's face. "You can't just stare at her, 'ttebane! Ya know you have to say things out loud for other people to hear, don't cha?"

She shook her head, and straightened back up. "Good thing it's someone who's not gonna take your weirdness personally - Rin-chan knows _all_ about your emotional constipation... doesn't she?" Kushina glanced over at Rin, who froze under the sudden spotlight.

"...Yes?"

Kushina sighed. "He's just pretending that he didn't Shunshin all the way here the second that nurse broke the news. And I _still_ had to drag him in with me just because he was too scared to open the damn door and walk in, 'ttebane."

Rin stared at Kakashi, who carefully avoided her gaze.

"Kakashi, you were standing out there the whole time?"

He scoffed unconvincingly. "It would have been a waste of energy to travel the traditional way. Besides, you already had visitors with you. I was just waiting for them to leave."

Kushina put her face in her hands, muttering about 'men.' Rin couldn't help but smile - and sobered up just as quickly at the reminder of what Genma had told her.

"What's wrong with Obito?" She asked urgently. Both Kakashi and Kushina twitched at the question. "Before he left, Genma told me he was - that he was in some kind of coma. Did it have anything to do with the..." _the plant matter, the unorthodox kind of healing that she had tested for the first time on him_ , she wanted to say, but couldn't get the words out.

"It was my fault," Kakashi said bluntly, but with the tone of a man heading to his executioner. "I... lost control and the seal was weakening, and Obito -"

"I know," said Rin shortly. "I saw how Obito got injured." Kakashi stared at her. "But I'm not talking about that... I tried healing him in the field with -" Well, she wasn't especially excited to explain the composition of half of her body to two laymen to medical science. "With an experimental technique. Since he's still alive, I guess it wasn't all for nothing... but why isn't Obito waking up?"

"To tell the truth," Kushina answered thoughtfully, after a long moment of contemplation, "nobody knows for sure. Experimental technique... you're talking about the stuff that's making up half of your body right now, yeah? And the stuff that's plugging up the hole in Obito's abdomen. I'm definitely not the best person to ask about this stuff, 'ttebane... but all I can say is that half the medic-nin in this hospital would give an arm to examine the stuff up close."

Rin's lack of an arm suddenly felt very conspicuous. Kushina turned red. "Dammit," she swore, "Sorry Rin-chan, it was just a -"

"It's not a big deal, Kushina-san." It really wasn't, not when losing an arm meant Obito would - might - live. "But... is there something wrong with how his body is reacting to it?"

"The medic-nin can't figure out why, 'ttebane. Obito-kun _should_ be waking up, but for some damn reason, he just _isn't_." Kushina shook her head in frustration. "But... Oi, Rin-chan. Don't worry about Obito-kun too much, alright? He's tougher than you might think - he survived this long, didn't he? Besides," she added conspiratorially, "word of Minato is... Obito's going to get looked at by a Sannin."

"T-Tsunade-sama?" Rin gasped.

"Eheh... no, 'ttebane." Kushina scratched at the back of her head. "Well, I'm sure my idiot husband will hunt her down if we end up needing her, wherever she's hiding. No, Orochimaru agreed to help... surprisingly enough, 'ttebane. But hey, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth."

"Orochimaru-sama...?" she repeated, somewhat blankly. Out of all the people Rin would have expected to help out, the Snake Sage would not have been on the list at all.

But then again, Obito had actually enjoyed the man's company in the few times Sensei left them in Jiraiya-sama's care, who promptly roped in his teammate to help out - meaning, of course, to do the actual work while the man himself went to peek at girls in the bathhouses. It had been Obito who stayed to talk with the man while Rin and Kakashi practiced by themselves - when Rin had asked once, from pure curiosity, just what exactly the two had talked about, Obito had muttered a vague, "Parents." Though Rin really wasn't sure what that _meant_ , per say, it was significant that Orochimaru hadn't made any attempt to avoid said conversations.

"Yeah... okay, honestly, I find the guy a bit creepy," Kushina admitted. "But when it comes to weird stuff like this, he definitely knows what's going on. Maybe even more than Tsunade."

"I'm not too worried about that," Rin admitted. "But... if it's possible, at all... I would like to talk to Orochimaru-sama. I'm sure he knows much more overall than I do, but I might know a bit more about Obito's specific situation. I mean... it happened to me too."

"...I have to warn you, the guy's not exactly the best conversationalist, 'ttebayo -"

"It's not an issue." Not when her best friend at stake.

Kushina nodded, though she didn't seem very enthused at the idea, just as an orderly peeked his head in through the doorway.

"Shinobi-san," he said respectfully, "I'm afraid visiting hours are over for today. The two of you can come back tomorrow - we allow visitors starting from seven in the morning."

"Visiting hours... over...?" Kushina blinked, staring at the dark sky outside. "No way - don't tell me we've already been here for -!"

"It's alright, Kushina-san," Rin said. "I'm actually feeling a bit tired now. I think... I have all my pressing questions answered for now," _not really_ , "and I'm still going to be here tomorrow!" She tried a weak smile.

"Agh, fine," the other woman acquiesced. "Kakashi and I will come see you early tomorrow, then. Don't forget!" And then, in a confidential whisper, said, "...My idiot husband will be coming along too, 'ttebane. But... not entirely on personal business. Those asshole advisors of his are demanding to know where you've been, and how you survived - they want someone to blame for the Kiri catastrophe, 'ttebane - but like hell if we're going to let them!"

She gave her a thumbs up and a wide grin. Rin smiled back - and then the two of them were gone.

The orderly clicked off the lights and shut the door, and Rin found herself alone and left in darkness, suddenly feeling very empty.

Maybe she had expected too much – that just by coming back to the village, everything would be okay. But Obito was in a coma that nobody knew how to get him out of, there was something off with Kakashi that he didn't feel at all comfortable to say, and without an arm… Rin wasn't exactly fit for duty. In fact, with the Hokage's own advisors coming after her… and where was her dad? Did he even know she was still alive?

She sighed softly, and leaned back – just as a dark figure jumped through her open window and landed on the ground with a thump.

The only reason Rin didn't attack automatically was because the person's chakra signature was familiar and - " _Kakashi?_ " She whispered, surprised. "Why are you here again?"

Kakashi straightened up, his silver-gray hair a beacon in the darkness. "I didn't have time to say what I needed to say," he said simply.

"Kakashi, you did just… stare at me for a whole minute," Rin pointed out weakly.

He shook his head. "That's beside the point. Rin – you said that you saw… saw what I did to Obito."

"I was – there, yes."

"At what point?" He persisted. She told him, in short, blunt sentences what exactly she had seen.

Kakashi looked sickened, but somewhat satisfied, as if something had been confirmed to him. "The timing was too coincidental," he told her. "You could have arrived minutes before, or minutes after – but just at that _moment_ … means that events had been arranged specifically for things to play out as they did."

"My captor –" Rin stopped, suddenly very unsure. "My captor wanted me to leave at that exact time," she said again, but there was something _missing_ , and she just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Who was your captor?" Kakashi asked, eyes narrowed and alert.

And it was then that Rin realized… she didn't know. It was as if her memories of the past few months had been… blurred, like what wind did to sand on the beach. They were there, and she knew vaguely that she had been underground, had gained Mokuton, had left – but who it had been, where she had been, why – it was all a mystery. Once she had penetrated the veneer, there was nothing there.

It was frightening, that something or someone could just – go into her head like that, and pluck out her life and experiences. "Kakashi, I don't know. I can't _remember_ –"

There was an odd sound that Rin identified only after a few seconds as the grinding of teeth. "The seal," Kakashi said at last. "Sensei said he removed a seal from your heart with great difficulty, but there could have been some kind of complications –"

"Then – how am I supposed to testify? Nobody would believe me, not when I don't remember anything specific about _months_ of captivity –"

"It wouldn't be as extreme as that," Kakashi disagreed. "But… the emphasis the advisors had put on your testimony… it's odd, especially since they wanted someone to blame with what happened to Obito and me. It means… someone knew that you wouldn't remember."

Rin blinked. "Someone knew –" And that someone would have to be somewhere in the upper hierarchy of Konoha's political power. "Does Minato-sensei know about this?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No… Obito and I suspected something going on after certain... activities were occurring without Sensei's approval, but Sensei was too close to the possible suspects. If the perpetrator knew that Sensei had any suspicion…"

"But – Minato-sensei is the Yondaime," she argued. "He's the _Hokage_."

"Rin, trust me. Konoha isn't as simple as any of us thought it was."

Rin was silent. "This is why… you didn't want to talk to me with Kushina in the room, right? And why you waited for Gai and Genma to leave." He nodded.

She let out a long breath. "Kakashi, you said - "what happened to Obito and _me_." That day, your chakra was... monstrous, you're training with Kushina-san, and you mentioned a seal. Are you... a jinchuuriki?"

There was a long moment before Kakashi sighed. "Yes. I am the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi - the Kiri nin had sealed it into me so I would destroy the village... at least, that is what the official report says. Personally... I think there was another reason why."

"...What... are you saying?"

"Rin. There is someone with a great deal of political power in this village who wanted Obito and I to kill each other - and for you to see it. They never expected Obito to use non-lethal measures, and for him to survive my attack." He grimaced. "Someone who is either working with your captor, or _is_ your captor."

Kakashi's eyes turned serious. "And... I think I know who."

* * *

 _[A/N: Ridiculously late, and far longer than I initially expected. I'm pretty exhausted from typing all of this up in the span of a few hours, and I'm not sure how this fic took the turn it did - it was supposed to end in sappy, saccharine reunions and a straightforward happy ending, but I just got swept away halfway through this chapter. This is definitely not my best writing, but I rather get it out now than scrapping it again like I did with the last 5 drafts of this chapter..._

 _Of course, I'm sure there are timeline issues. Orochimaru's still in the village - for reasons that stem from butterflies due to Obito remaining within the village - and probably not as evil as he is in canon. Yes, the blackkkat Orochimaru-redemption bug has finally bit me. The reference to Orochimaru and Obito's conversations is based off of their relationship in ShikiKyuu's fics (read them, they're amaaaazing) but they'll probably be built on more in Obito and Kakashi's side of the story [which is coming... one day. Maybe even later than I expected because this fic isn't ending as quickly as I expected...]_

 _For reasons stemming from that particular butterfly... Danzo, Tenzo, and various others will have slightly different origins/roles than in canon. I dunno for sure. I might be getting too complicated, but... eh.]_


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